Tag Archives: Social Impact

How to multiply your social impact 2X to 6X

Posted on June 9, 2009 | 1 comment

In 2005 Kiva launched a website that allowed individuals to provide small loans to needy entrepreneurs around the world. The money was directed through microfinance institutions (MFIs) to their customers. When the site launched it had only 7 businesses in Uganda. Then their story got picked up by the Daily Kos and donations started flooding their site. With all the subsequent publicity Kiva was unable to line up beneficiaries fast enough to keep up with the donations coming in and for a while had to put a hold on its site.

Fast forward to 2008, Bala Vishwanath, an alum of top Indian tech and management schools – IIT and IIM – saw an opportunity to unstick the Kiva bottleneck and to multiply the social impact of every dollar. He quit his job and worked to setup www.UnitedProsperity.org United Prosperity helps provide loan guarantees that enable poor entrepreneurs to borrow from Microfinance Institutions to build their enterprises in developing countries. Continue reading →

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Posted in bottom of the pyramid, India, international development, Micro-enterprises, micro-finance, microfinance, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development

Tagged India, Kiva, micro-finance, microcredit, microfinance, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, social Innovation, Social Investment, sustainable development, United Prosperity, yunus

The Blue Sweater a book by Acumen Fund founder Jacqueline Novogratz

Posted on May 11, 2009 | 2 comments

I had gotten a copy of Acumen Fund founder, Jacqueline Novogratz’s, book “The Blue Sweater” a couple of months ago and had kept promising myself that I would read it. Finally as I was leaving on a short trip to India, I threw it in my bag hoping to get to it during my visit. As the long 15 plus hour trip from Newark to Bombay stretched before me, I settled myself in as best as I could and opened the book expecting to read a few pages and then sleep as much as possible for the rest of the flight.

Once I started reading I was hooked. Before I knew it I had plowed through the entire volume. This is an extraordinary and powerful book. My personal interest in social entrepreneurship, particularly in solving issues in the developing world, had led me to peruse many books in the field – from the seminal one by David Bornstein to Jeff Sachs and Prof. Yunus. Each provided a perspective on development with solutions and suggestions. Yet somehow this book was different. Continue reading →

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Posted in BOP, bottom of the pyramid, Health, Information Technology, international development, Investment, micro-finance, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development, venture philanthropy

Tagged Acumen Fund, BOP, Health, Information Technology, international development, micro-finance, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social entrepreneurship, Social Impact, social Innovation, Social Investment, Sustainable ventures, venture philanthropy

The Increasing Focus on the Rural Indian Consumer

Posted on May 6, 2009 | 3 comments

I have been in India for the past week and one of the trends I have noticed is the increased focus on the rural market. Perhaps it is the ongoing elections or maybe the global recession, but companies across the board seem to have a renewed emphasis on targeting the rural consumer.

Culling thru the headlines there are a few key facts that seem to stand out: Continue reading →

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Posted in Agricultural Development, BOP, bottom of the pyramid, India, Investment, micro-finance, microfinance, mobile technology, Poverty, Rural Consumer, Rural Development, sustainable development

Tagged BOP, Coca Cola, eJeevika, GE, India, micro-finance, mobile technology, Poverty, rural BPO, Rural Consumer, Rural Development, Social Impact, sustainable development, Wall Street Journal, WIPRO

Jacqueline Novogratz – Legatum Lecture at MIT

Posted on April 22, 2009 | Leave a comment

We are a connected world said Jacqueline as she described the story of her blue sweater, also the title of her recently published book. Once discarded by her at Goodwill, it turned up 25 years later in Rwanda where she found it on a boy in the countryside.

Speaking at the Legatum Center’s Lecture series at MIT, she described the innovative work of Acumen fund and how it helps build social solutions through its venture philanthropy.

She prefaced her talk by some of her observations from her work helping to build enterprises around the world that she undertook since her time in Rwanda.

Dignity is more important than wealth for the human spirit.
Traditional models of charity won’t solve problems of poverty.
Markets can’t solve poverty. 100 Million people went back into poverty last year and that is what happens when you only rely on market forces to solve these problems.
What is needed is patient capital that will address these problems

Continue reading →

The 140-Character Mission: Social Media & Social Entrepreneurship

Posted on April 15, 2009 | 1 comment

The TiE Boston Social Entrepreneurs Group put on a great interactive panel discussion on using Social Media for non profits. The panelists represented a spectrum of cutting edge users in the social media space. They included (with their Twitter ids)

Ken George, New Media Production Manager, WBUR Boston (@kengeorge)
Brian Halligan, CEO and Co-founder, HubSpot (@bhalligan)
Gradon Tripp, Founder, Social Media for Social Change (SM4SC) (@gradontripp)
Joe Waters, Director of Cause Marketing, Boston Medical Center (@joewaters)
Kate Brodock, Other Side Group (Moderator) (@just_kate)

After the introductory discussion two non-profits presented their current online challenges and asked the panel for direction/advice

Sam Vaghar, Managing Director, Millennium Campus Network (@samvaghar)
Julie Soforenko, Marketing and Outreach Coordinator, ACCION USA

It was a terrific session with some great insights and ideas. I have tried to capture some of the nuggets from the evening in no particular chronological or preconceived order. Continue reading →

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Posted in Information Technology, non-profit, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation

Tagged Boston Medial Center, Chris Brogan, Facebook, Firstgiving, Hubspot, Information Technology, internet, mashable, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, social Innovation, Social Media, Twitter, WBUR